The present invention relates to a system for providing a standard microfiche or similar reader with the capacity for making prints of the projected image without substantially modifying the reader.
The use of microfiche, microfilm and similar mechanisms to store large volumes of printed material has become quite commonplace. When access is required to the information stored thereby, the fiche or film is inserted into a reader which projects the material onto a viewing screen so that it can be easily read. In order that such material can be retained in a more permanent format when desired, many such readers also include a mechanism by which photocopies or prints of the projected material can be made. With such modified reader-printers, the stored information can be reviewed by the user, and only those portions desired need be printed, thus rendering the total system highly efficient for the user.
The primary difficulty with microfiche and the like readers which incorporate an option for making prints of the projected material is their cost and complexity. The printing mechanism must necessarily be interposed between the optics of the system and the viewing screen in order to make prints. Such reader-printers customarily employ one or more mirrors inside the reader which move into position between the screen and the optics when the print option is selected. These readerprinters often require up to four servomotors, a plurality of microswitches to control the operation of the servomotors, and cost in the neighborhood of $1,000. Furthermore, due to the complexity of such devices, their reliability is relatively poor and they must be periodically maintained, and the maintenance fees for such systems can be as high as $200 per year and more.